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Tātaiako:

Tātaiako provides a guide for teachers, their employers, Initial Teacher Education providers and providers of on-going teacher professional learning to think about what it takes to successfully teach Māori learners.It is a starting point for schools and early childhood education services to develop cultural competence. It is most effective when whānau, hapū and iwi work together with schools and services to determine the cultural competencies that are particular to their communities.&nb...

Te Ara Whakamana: Mana Enhancement

Te Ara Whakamana: Mana Enhancement is a circular framework that uses the Māori creation story, colour, imagery, narrative and cultural metaphors as powerful tools to connect individuals to their Mana, their sources of strength, and their world.Link to article: Te Ara Whakamana: Mana Enhancement - AKO Solutionz...

Oranga Tamariki blunder:

A woman who was accused of being an unfit mother by Oranga Tamariki when her file was merged with another woman's has rejected an offer of $50,000 compensation.The Herald on Sunday revealed in April the her identity was mistaken with another woman of a similar name for 20 years.The agency accused Anna - not her real name - of violence against her family, hiding children that weren't hers, benefit fraud, and neglect. Her four children were left traumatised after they were removed from Anna's...

NZ gang members forging global networks,

New Zealand Customs says many traditional New Zealand gangs increasingly have global connections and it's changed the way it works to stay ahead. At a meeting of the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group last month, its chair Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw made a startling claim that "the long shadow of organised crime and state aggression" is fuelling an increase in serious crimes.Link to article: NZ gang members forging global networks, Customs warns (1news.co.nz)...

'Inappropriate' use of haka by Italian women's team

A former Football Fern has called for Kiwi athletes to receive more education on Māori practices following the "inappropriate" use of the haka by an Italian women's football team.Kristy Hill – a player rep at the New Zealand Professional Footballers' Association of Māori heritage – urged national sporting bodies to "take up the challenge" after a clip from a documentary on the Juventus women's team shared on social media showed the players performing the Ka Mate haka.Juventus def...

Under fire Te Pūkenga says 'sorry to all staff'

Under fire mega polytechnic Te Pūkenga has extended an apology to staff as it faces a major financial crisis, intense scrutiny over its performance and fears of significant redundancies to tackle a $110 million-plus debt crisis.But, despite those headaches, it’s also ruling out asking the Government for an extension to the end of year deadline for completing the transition to a unified national technical institute and industry training organisation entity.In an email obtained by Stuff, t...

Environmentalists, mana whenua criticise PM's 'appalling' gift

The origins of a swamp kauri bowl gifted to the US President are causing controversy in Te Tai Tokerau - with one environmentalist calling the present an "appalling" mistake.Mana whenua are also frustrated they were kept out of the loop.The Prime Minister gave the bowl to Joe Biden on her recent visit to Washington.Her office has confirmed the wood came from businessman Nelson Parker.But the chair of the Northland Environmental Protection Society Fiona Furrell told RNZ that was a "faux pas".A Mi...

Calls for change

They say Māori children should have free access to all the schools within the rohe of their iwi or hapū and the Education Ministry must prioritise mana whenua when it consults communities about zone changes. School zones give local children first dibs on attending their neighbourhood school while students from further afield can enrol only if there is room for them, and often they have to apply through a ballot.Link to article: Calls for change as Māori children are zoned out of iwi, hap...

Whānau choosing between food and shelter

Putting kai on the table or keeping a roof over their heads is a decision that many whānau may have to make as inflation reaches its highest rate in 32 years.On Monday, Stats NZ reported annual inflation jumped to a higher-than-expected 7.3% during the three months to the end of June, with housing utilities driving the increase. Inflation is now at its highest since June 1990.The rise in the cost of food, petrol, and rentals is the main cause for concern for kaupapa Māori services th...

Tributes flow for Tai Tokerau's Ricky Houghton

Te Tai Tokerau is mourning a man who spent decades lifting others out of poverty, homelessness, addiction and imprisonment.Kaitāia's He Korowai Trust chief executive Ricky Houghton (Te Paatu, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Whatua) died early yesterday morning, aged 62, after battling illness.He devoted his life to helping others - fighting to house dozens of families in upcycled state houses, fighting to stop families losing their homes to mortgagee sales, campaigning to lift the number of Māori wardens ...

Waikato whānau in crisis frustrated at lack of effective help

For parents and whānau of tamariki with severe and complex behavioural needs, it can be like living in a warzone. Often these children can present a danger to themselves, as well as others.One south Waikato mother describes it like this: "I feel like I'm in a domestic, violent relationship with a son I can't escape. My great fear at the moment is that someone's going to die. That's how serious our situation here at home is." She is speaking out to The Hui, frustrated with how hard it is to...

Accommodation supplement review needed as rents double

Stats NZ said consumer prices increased by 1.7 percent for the three months ended June, pushing the annual rate to 7.3 percent from 6.9 percent.That was above expectations and the biggest annual rise since June 1990.The costs of building and running a house were the single biggest drivers for the quarterly and annual increases."Supply-chain issues, labour costs, and higher demand have continued to push up the cost of building a new house," general manager Jason Attewell said.Food prices rose 1.3...

Covid-19 hospitalisations:

The government has announced plans to try to reduce a predicted peak of 1200 Covid-19 patients in hospital a day to 900.But some doctors said the moves did not go far enough and, even at 900 a day they would still be under huge stress.Under the newly announced plans, people would have access to free masks from Rapid Antigen Test collection centres, free RATs would be available much more widely and there would be wider access to antiviral drugs.A campaign to encourage people t...

Bringing reo Māori home,

Aroha Tamihana's kaupapa is making reo Māori part of everyday life. Fusing her skills as a graphic artist with her love for te reo, and calligraphy she creates wall art, greeting cards and household objects bearing proverbs, and sayings in reo as Maimoa Creative. Her whakapapa is Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Ranginui, and she lives in Tauranga with her husband, Hamuera Tamihana and their two children Te Rauriki and Manahau, who are growing up bilingual.AROHA TAMIHANA: I started my busine...

DNA testing leads

When Allan Heta Cleaver spat into a tube in 2019, little did he know that his DNA test would lead him to finding his biological father, 55 years after his birth.It would be the second full circle in his life: from becoming a sex worker at age 14, to living in a penthouse overlooking K Road in middle age; from not knowing his biological origins, to returning with his father to his tūrangawaewae.Handed over to his adopted family at as a week old baby, Cleaver’s adoption was closed until law cha...

Restructures

OPINION: While restructures in our workplaces are often categorised by our courts as being part of management’s prerogative, employers should be mindful that it does have an impact on their employees.Losing your job may be one of the most stressful things a person may experience. It may lower self-esteem and worthiness. It may cause financial turmoil. It may affect family and loved ones. And it may affect a worker's health, sometimes significantly.Ironically, the effect on the h...

Rugby: Māori All Blacks halfback Brad Weber

Māori All Blacks halfback and co-captain Brad Weber hopes to inspire those who may not 'look Māori' to explore their whakapapa and learn about their heritage.Weber is no stranger to the Māori All Blacks set up, after debuting for the representative team in 2015 and earning nine caps since.Alongside fellow halfback TJ Perenara, he was named co-captain and started in their win over Ireland at Hamilton a fortnight ago.Weber, 31, who is of Ngāti Porou descent, has relished the opportunity of bei...

Gang lifestyle no longer 'Once Were Warriors'

Justice Minister Kiri Allan says gangs are finding new ways to recruit youths – and the lifestyle is no longer the "Once Were Warriors" way of the 1990s.Instead, Allan says gangs are offering young people a lavish way of living, with "bikes and bling" - which is why the Government is trying to hit gangs where it hurts – their assets.The Government today announced a series of laws to try to combat gangs – including a new crime of firing a gun with intent to intimidate that comes w...

A newspaper shines a light on missing Indigenous women

It’s been 35 years since Patricia “Patsy” Whitefoot’s youngest sister, Daisy Heath, disappeared from the home they shared in rural eastern Washington. The unsolved case has shaped the lives of Whitefoot and her family as they continuously cycle through waves of yearning, anger and grief. A detective called just a couple of months ago with a lead that ultimately, like all the others, went nowhere.But while the decades haven’t produced any answers about Heath’s whereabouts, they have b...

Kāinga Ora moves on 'disruptive households'

Kāinga Ora has received hundreds of complaints about problem tenants and has moved dozens on since changes were made to the Residential Tenancies Act.But some people don’t feel enough is being done to protect neighbours from tenants’ disruptive behaviour.Changes to the Residential Tenancies Act earlier this year meant Kāinga Ora could give tenants a warning for serious disruptive behaviour and if a tenant received three warnings within 90 days, Kāinga Ora could apply to the Tenancy Tribun...

Māori law academics call taihoa

It's time for the Government to taihoa on the Oranga Tamariki Oversight Bill, say University of Auckland legal academics.In a paper titled Time to Taihoa, the University law experts from Te Puna Rangahau o te Wai Ariki, the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre for Indigenous Peoples and the Law, lay out major concerns with the Bill, which is progressing through Parliament and is due to go before the House of Representatives for its second reading.They say that the Government has disregarded both te Tirit...

Northland mother shares tips for cooking healthy kai

Kirsten Holtz began vlogging in 2020, using knowledge she gained raising seven children on a single income, to start the Facebook page Mummas Kitchen. She quickly amassed a huge following during the first Covid-19 lockdown by sharing recipes and cooking tips online, and now has 80,000 Facebook followers. Over the weekend Holtz held a health wānanga at Tai Tokerau Wānanga Marae in Raumanga. It was part of a winter wellness campaign to encourage whānau to take care of their health. The workshop...

Call for Māori land return

A bid to return the control of land used by a golf club to its original Māori owners has put a co-management plan on hold in New Plymouth.The land was previously Native Reserve land and kaumātua Peter Moeahu says the New Plymouth District Council should return it to mana whenua via a lease for one dollar a year.“The land was stolen from us, it can be returned by way of the lease,” Moeahu told the council’s partnership committee, Te Huinga Taumatua.His proposed 21-year lease would include...

Timely to increase Māori nurse practitioners numbers,

Nursing schools have united to call for doubling the numbers, but health officials say the current funding that has already significantly increased numbers, will continue as it is.Māori make up nine percent of the 612-strong practitioner workforce, versus 17 percent of the population.The national coordinator of training Josephine Davis said that was too low, even though the approach was proven to produce skilled medical professionals committed to staying in their Māori or rural communitie...

When you love your child,

It's a tricky subject, but there are times for all parents when they just don't like parenthood. They love their child, but the actual experience of being a parent at that moment just doesn't feel great. For example, when your child is inconsolable, and you haven't been able to eat or sleep for hours, and you can't even get to the toilet. Psychologist Sarb Johal says ambivalence about parenting can strike at any time - even in the lead up to parenting.  Link to...